The present invention relates to an image pickup device and a method of manufacturing the same, in particular, which can preferably be utilized for image pickup devices equipped with a waveguide.
To digital cameras and the like, an image pickup device equipped with, for example, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor is applied. Such an image pickup device includes a pixel part in which a photo diode that converts entering light to charges is formed, and a peripheral circuit part that performs processing or the like, as an electric signal, of the charges having been converted by the pixel part.
Recently, in order to cope with reduction in size of digital cameras and the like, an image pickup device is increasingly required to have a small pixel size of a pixel part. Along with the reduction in the pixel size, the quantum efficiency inside silicon (Si) tends to become lower. The quantum efficiency denotes a number of output electrons per one photon, and a higher quantum efficiency inside silicon (Si) means that the pixel part has a higher sensitivity.
In order to improve the quantum efficiency inside silicon (Si) as much as possible, there is proposed an image pickup device equipped with a waveguide that guides light to a photo diode of a pixel part. In the image pickup device of this kind, the waveguide is formed by performing etching on an interlayer insulating film covering the photo diode to thereby form an opening part, and by filling a predetermined embedding material into the opening part. Note that, as Patent Documents disclosing an image pickup device equipped with a waveguide, there are Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2006-351759 and 2006-310825.